Pacifican Republic
Born out of the former state of Washington from the United States, the Democratic Republic of the Pacific initially formed as the Republic of Washington on 26 February 2009, it quickly split following political disputes. Reformed as the Provisional Republic of Puget Sound, in defiance of the neighboring territory that joined the Republic of California, on 5 March 2009. A constitution was finalized on 3 April 2009, formally establishing the Democratic Republic of the Pacific, or the Pacifican Republic. A small nation occupying the most populated areas of the western parts of the former State of Washington, the Pacifican Republic has inherited many of the unique cultures, arts, and industrial centers in this area. The largest city, Seattle, was the bastion of the Pacifican independence movement and is now a beacon for Pacifican nationalism. The city, and the country itself, was brought to the brink of collapse during the 2009-2010 Pacifican War. History The history of the Pacifican Republic is integral with that of the history of the State of Washington, therefore both histories are listed here in this article. European Settlement The first European record of a landing on the Washington coast was in 1774 by Spaniard . One year later, Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta on board the Santiago, part of a two-ship flotilla with the Sonora, landed near the mouth of the Quinault River and claimed the coastal lands up to the Russian possessions in the north. In 1778, the British explorer sighted , at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. But the strait itself was not found until Charles William Barkley, captain of the Imperial Eagle, sighted it in 1787. Barkley named it for Juan de Fuca. The Spanish-British Nootka Conventions of the 1790s ended Spanish exclusivity and opened the Northwest Coast to explorers and traders from other nations, most notably , , and the fledgling . Further explorations of the straits were performed by Spanish explorers in 1790 and in 1791 and then by British Captain in 1792. Captain Vancouver claimed the sound for Britain and named the waters south of the Tacoma Narrows Puget's Sound, in honor of , then a lieutenant accompanying him on the Vancouver Expedition. The name later came to be used for the waters north of Tacoma Narrows as well. Vancouver and his expedition mapped the coast of Washington from 1792 to 1794. The , under direction from President , entered the state from the east on October 10, 1805. and were surprised by the differences in Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest from those they had encountered earlier in the expedition, noting in particular the increased status of women among both coastal and plateau tribes. Lewis hypothesized that the equality of women and the elderly with men was linked to more evenly distributed economic roles, but neither Lewis nor Clark had any significant contact with Native women, an omission that is reflected in their travel journals. American-British occupation American interests in the region grew as part of the concept of . Spain ceded their rights north of the 42nd Parallel to the United States by the 1819 , (but not possession, which was disallowed by the terms of the Nootka Conventions). Britain had long standing commercial interests through the and a well established network of fur trading forts along the Columbia River in what it called Columbia District. These were headquartered from Fort Vancouver near present day Vancouver, Washington. By the , following from the , composed of present-day Washington, Oregon, and Idaho as well as parts of Montana and Wyoming, was established. Washington Territory, which included Washington and pieces of Idaho and Montana, was formed from Oregon Territory in 1853. In 1872, An arbitration process settled the boundary dispute from the and established the US-Canada border through the San Juan Islands and Gulf Islands. Settlement in Puget Sound As American settlers moved west along the , some traveled through the northern part of the and settled in the area. The first settlement in the Puget Sound area in the west of what is now Washington State was , a farm and fur-trading post owned by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company. Washington's erstswhile founder, the black pioneer George Washington Bush and his caucasian wife, Isabella James Bush, from Missouri and Tennessee, respectively, led four white families into the territory and settled New Market, now known as Tumwater, in 1846. They settled in Washington to avoid Oregon's racist settlement laws. After them, many more settlers, migrating overland along the Oregon trail, wandered north to settle in the Puget Sound area. Contrasted with other American occupations of the West, there was comparativel little violence between settlers and Native Americans, though several exceptions, such as Territorial Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens’ extensive campaigns in 1853 to force Indians into ceding lands and rights, are notable: the Puget Sound War, Cayuse War, Yakima War, and Spokane War being the largest conflicts between the new American authorities and indigenous governments. Raids by Haida, Tlingit and other northern tribes from British and Russian territory terrorized Native Americans and settlers alike in Puget Sound in the 1850s (see Port Gamble). Miners bound for the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in British Columbia in 1858 using the Okanagan Trail travelled under arms and there were many instances of violence along the route. Lumber industries drew settlers to the territory. Coastal cities, like Seattle (founded in 1853 and originally called “Duwamps”), were established. Unlike the wagon trains that had carried entire families to the Oregon Territory, these early trading settlements were populated primarily with single young men. Liquor, gambling, and prostitution were ubiquitous, supported in Seattle by one of the city’s founders, David Swinson “Doc” Maynard, who believed that well-run prostitution could be a functional part of the economy. The Fraser Gold Rush in what would as a result become the Colony of British Columbia saw a flurry of settlement and merchant activity in northern Puget Sound which gave birth to Port Townsend and Whatcom (which became (Bellingham) as commercial centres, at first attempting to rival Victoria as a disembarkation point of the goldfields until the colony's governor ordered that all access to the Fraser River go via Victoria. Despite the limitation on goldfield-related commerce, many men who left the "Fraser River Humbug", as the rush was for a while misunderstood to be, settled in Whatcom and Island counties. Some of these were settlers on San Juan Island during the Pig War of 1859. Upon the admission of the to the union in 1859, the eastern portions of the Oregon Territory, including southern , portions of Wyoming west of the continental divide (then Nebraska Territory), and a small portion of present-day Ravalli County, Montana were annexed to the Washington Territory. In 1863, the area of Washington Territory east of the Snake River and the 117th meridian west was reorganized as part of the newly created Idaho Territory, leaving that territory with only the lands within the current boundaries of the State of Washington. Statehood and the 20th Century After the passage of the , Washington became the 42nd state in the United States on November 11, 1889. The proposed state constitution, passed by a four-to-one ratio, originally included women’s suffrage and prohibition, but both of these issues were defeated and removed from the accepted constitution. Women had previously been given the vote in 1883 by the Washington Territorial Legislature, but the right was rescinded in 1887 by the Washington Territorial Supreme Court as a response to female support of prohibition. Despite these initial defeats, women in the Pacific Northwest were given the right to vote earlier than the rest of the country with Washington passing a suffrage amendment in 1910. Early prominent industries in the state included agriculture, lumber, and mining. The heavy rainfall to the west of the Cascade Range produced dense forests and the ports along Puget Sound prospered from the manufacturing and shipping of lumber products, particularly the Douglas fir. In 1905 Washington State became the largest producer of lumber in the nation. Seattle was the primary port for trade with Alaska and for a time possessed a large shipbuilding industry. Other industries that developed in Washington include fishing, salmon canning and mining. For an extended period of time, Tacoma was known for its large smelters where gold, silver, copper and lead ores were treated. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during the period including and and the Boeing Company became an established icon in the area. The progressive force of the early 20th century in Washington stemmed partially from the women’s club movement which offered opportunities for leadership and political power to tens of thousands of women in the Pacific Northwest. Bertha Knight Landes was elected mayor of Seattle in 1926, the first woman mayor of a major city in the United States. Vancouver became the end point for two ultra-long flights from , over the North Pole. The first of these flights was performed by Valery Chkalov in 1937 on a airplane. Chkalov was originally scheduled to land at an airstrip in nearby Portland, OR, but redirected at the last minute to Vancouver's Pearson Airfield. During the depression era, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia river as part of a project to increase the production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest in the United States. Independence from the United States Seattle and the Puget Sound area was a mostly progressive and the most liberal in Washington, but also had small pockets of active conservatives in such a liberal atmosphere. The recession in the fall of 2008 hit the area hard, and with the bailout programs implemented by the Bush Administration failing, the economic decline only worsened. By December 2008, the winter storms and poor economic climate forced the area into a virtual freeze on everything. Businesses that usually prospered during the Christmas season were hit hard as up to two feet of snow fell in Western Washington, choking its populace and trapping it from shopping. The thaw in January didn't give any relief to the Puget Sound area, as record low temperatures, ice, and storms hit the region for several months the local and national economy only worsened. The 20th Washington State Legislature met to discuss the new state budget with deep cuts expected only as the state and national unemployment rate approached 10%. With a second stock market crash on 22 January 2009, the status of the nation economically went beyond that of the Great Depression and the national government was losing its authority over some of the states which the crash hit the hardest. The State Legislature worked endlessly on the budget in vain, too many cuts would have to be made to resolve the state's deficit, and with any lack of relief from the State, the people of Washington grew agitated with its government. Pocket groups of those who sought for the independence of the state or a political union with Canada or neighboring states emerged, and quickly gained influence and authority in communities, mostly in Western Washington. decides not to use the remnants of the to keep the independent states within the nation, citing that domestic violence would break out and that the country could not afford another war after still having troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The governments of the European Union expressed grave concern as the global economy would only severely decline over the break up of the United States, the EU stated that it would work to preserve what remained of the United States and would assist the federal government in maintaining authority. Pressure was leaning on the state of Washington to succeed and join Oregon and California in their Confederation of the Pacific. A unified Pacifican Independence Movement was formed in Western Washington and gained influence over the state's legislature, and with the support of the governments of Oregon and California, it was able to win the recall election of Governor Christine Gregoire and elected Ray Matveyev of the Progressive Party of the Pacific (which was organized by the Pacifican Independence Movement). Governor Matveyev immediately drafted an independence declaration and sent it to the Washington State Legislature. On 26 February 2009, the Washington State Legislature passed the Declaration of Sovereignty from the United States of America, which established the Republic of Washington. Immediately pressed with offers from Oregon and California to form a west-coast nation, Matveyev stressed that Washington was not interested but instead was more interested in forming close relations with Canada and form its own independent identity as a new nation. This caused a split in state politics, and in Matveyev's organizations: the Pacifican Progressive Party and the Independence Movement. Those loyal to Matveyev's faction opposed the joining of Washington into a Confederation of the Pacific while the other side advocated for it. In Eastern Washington, many "grassroots" movements were started pushing for the rejoining of the state with the United States. After the declaration on 5 March 2009 of Eastern Washington counties leaving to rejoin the United States, many counties of Western Washington decided to join the Californian Republica. Solidifying the remnants of the Washington Republic, Matveyev reorganized the country into a provisional republic, claiming the remaining counties loyal to his administration. The new country also assumed control of Olympia and the Republic of Washington's young constitutional convention. Matveyev declared himself president and stated that the government would be reorganized into a more temporary role and that the constitutional convention would be formally convened. Pacifican War Throughout the autumn of 2009, the United States Armed Forces, under the command of Acting President , started their conquest westward to reintegrate the seceded states into the United States - citing secession as treason against the federal government and thus the former state governors and officials were considered felons by the US Federal Government. Throughout November 2009, the United States rolled through Idaho (now apart of the Commonwealth of the Rockies) and entered the eastern half of the former state of Washington. While there was initial resistance in Idaho, concentrated in the state capitol of , it was quelled however in December. On 31 November, the US captured and the Republic of California officially declared war on the United States of America. Pacifican Involvement To better defend the country, President Matveyev organized the Army of the Pacific as the primary armed forces for the Pacifican Republic. Its establishment, 2 December, is celebrated as a national holiday as Armed Forces' Day. The Army was equipped with what American equipment that was captured at military bases within Pacifica's jurisdiction. Initially, enlistment was low, and the newly created Ministry for Defense worked with the Interior Ministry to draft the servicemen of the Department on Police and Law Enforcement - the nationalized police forces. With a strength of 26,790 (according to the Department on Statistics, Measurements, and the Census as of 10 December 2009), President Matveyev felt confident that the borders were secure, but only temporarily. On 7 December, pledged to support the Republic of California, going against warnings from the United States that aiding California would be considered an . The Canadian government released a statement saying that it was acting on its own interest to protect its borders and economic interests in the region. The United States, however, said that any tactical action by Canada will be met with equal force. Three days later, with the support of Independent , the pledged support to California with arms and weaponry, a move condemned by the United States and European Union. Eureka, California was captured on 12 December, and President Ray Matveyev realized the link with California will be cut off if he didn't secure an alliance before the Americans caputred the Californian capital of Sacremento (moved to Los Angeles on 14 December). The next day, Matveyev traveled to Sacremento to talk with Californian President John Garamendi. On 15 December 2009, Matveyev traveled with Californian officials to Los Angeles and that day secured an alliance with California for the duration of the conflict. Pacifica was entitled to Russian and Canadian aid, and California was entitled to access of the strategic ports at Olympia and Seattle. Category:Democratic Republic of the Pacific Category:Nations